BCCI decides to reject the conversion of 2021 Champions Trophy to World T20

04/25/2018

BCCI have clarified that any attempt that will be made to replace the 2021 Champions Trophy with the World T20 will be strongly rejected. BCCI's treasurer, Anirudh Chaudhry has justified the decision by explaining that the move said that it would cost the board a loss of approximately $30 million.

During the ICC conclave in Auckland last year, the governing body had proposed the idea of replacing the 2021 Champions Trophy with a World T20. After the idea was discussed again at the ICC Board meetings in Kolkata on Wednesday and Thursday the BCCI outright rejected it with Anirudh Chaudhry claiming that it would result in a loss of $30 million in revenue to the BCCI.

“It is now learned that there is a proposal to replace the Champions Trophy tournament scheduled in 2021 by a World T20 event. This might cause a loss of about $30 million to the BCCI and its stakeholders. Knowing the mood of the member organizations of the BCCI, in all likelihood, this would be unacceptable to the BCCI’s General Body which had earlier resolved that the Member Participation Agreement with the ICC would not be executed without the approval of the General Body,” Chaudhry said as quoted by The Indian Express.

The treasurer looked displeased over ICC chairman Shashank Manohar’s proceedings and asked him to take the matter more seriously.

“Having worked with Mr. Manohar, one realizes that he does miss out on briefing the house on crucial information that has potentially significant ramifications for the organization concerned and therefore it is important for the ICC Board to understand the correct picture vis-à-vis the BCCI.”

While, the ICC events for the 2019-2023 FTP cycle was finalized in Auckland last year, Cricket Australia(CA) were given the hosting rights of the 2020 World T20 while India were awarded the 2021 Champions Trophy and the 2023 World Cup hosting rights. However, during the meeting, the idea came to the fore that the BCCI to conduct World T20 instead of Champions Trophy in 2021 but it was shot down by the BCCI straightaway. However, according to a cricket board source, a recent ICC meeting on strategy and financial sustainability had mentioned the proposed 2021 Champions Trophy as a “World T20 tournament”. Chaudhry strongly condemned the cricketing global body for its attitude towards the richest cricket board.

“It appears that the morality of the ICC excludes India’s interests but includes India’s money. It also appears that the true intent and the optics of the intent also differ greatly,” the treasurer said, adding: “How can we, the BCCI, devalue the life of a child playing cricket in a remote district in India in order to add value to a life of someone playing cricket in Ireland or Pakistan. All life is valuable and as BCCI, it is our duty to do the best we can for those who play the game within our area of operation. Also, we must not lose sight of the fact that the Champions Trophy is a brainchild of the late Jagmohan Dalmiya, who conceptualised it for the greater sustenance of the 50-over format.” said Anirudh Chaudhry.

One BCCI member questioned the contradictions about ICC’s plan of giving other formats more scope against the current threat of growing T20 demands. However, the Auckland meeting governing body had agreed on introducing a nine-team Test league and a 13-team ODI league from 2019 and 2020 respectively.

BCCI also decided for an advanced the 2019 edition of the IPL, to be played from March 29 to May 19, declared in the ICC Chief Executives Committee meeting in Kolkata on Tuesday keeping an eye on World Cup 2019 schedule. As per the new fixtures, India will play their first match against South Africa on June 5. Their match against Pakistan is scheduled for June 16. The Indian board advanced next year’s IPL to ensure a 15-day lay-off between the T20 league and the World Cup, obliging Supreme Court’s directive. India will also play 19 home Tests during the 2019-2023 FTP cycle.

India will open their 2019 WC campaign against South Africa on June 5 and square off against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 16. Here’s the full schedule:

India vs South Africa: June 5, 2019

India vs Australia: June 9, 2019

India vs New Zealand: June 13, 2019

India vs Pakistan: June 16, 2019

India vs Afghanistan: June 2, 2019

India vs West Indies: June 27, 2019

India vs England: June 30, 2019

India vs Bangladesh: July 2, 2019

India vs Sri Lanka: July 6, 2019